At a busy intersection in Ho Chi Minh City, a plastic basket filled with long, dark, gnarled fruits draws curious glances from passers-by.

The unfamiliar sight is enough for some to pull out their phones and snap a photo.

For others, it is a taste of childhood in Vietnam’s rural Mekong Delta.

The fruit is o moi, or cassia grandis, a seasonal product rarely seen in supermarkets but common in Mekong Delta villages during the dry months.

At her small sidewalk stall on Lanh Binh Thang Street, 52-year-old Nguyen Thi Hien has been selling o moi and other traditional fruits for over a decade.

“These fruits aren’t easy to find in the city,” she said, arranging the produce on a tray.

“People who grew up in the countryside know them, while most young city folks don’t even know the names.”

Hien’s makeshift stall opens at 6:00 am daily.

Alongside o moi, she sells cashew apples, combretum quadrangulare, golden apples, and other regional specialties brought up from An Giang Province, where her younger sister collects them by hand.

“I sell them by the piece,” she said.

“The larger o moi fruits go for VND25,000 [US$1], the smaller ones VND20,000 [$0.8].

“It’s just enough to cover the transport cost.”

While the exotic appearance of o moi draws attention, Hien’s best-selling item is the cashew apple.

To boost appeal, she places small bags of chili salt next to the fruit, tempting anyone walking by.

“One look and people can’t resist,” she said.

“I sell it at VND60,000 [$2.3] per kilo.”

A few kilometers away, at the intersection of 3 Thang 2 and Ly Thuong Kiet Streets, another vendor is offering similar fruits.

Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, 43, began selling rural specialties after years of working in wet markets.

Originally from Dong Thap Province, she remembers the days when children climbed trees and stained their mouths dark eating o moi straight from the pod.

“There weren’t any candies back then,” she recalled.

“When o moi ripened, every kid raced to gather them.”

Her seasonal selection includes chum ruot (star gooseberries), thanh tra (plum mangoes), diospyros decandra, and mangrove apples.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic hub with a population of around 14 million as of mid-2025, draws migrants from across the country—especially from Mekong Delta provinces—seeking work in factories and service jobs, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Many of these bring with them memories of foraging for fruits like o moi and cashew apples.

Today, vendors like Hien and Yen cater to these tastes—selling to both long-time city residents and those yearning for the flavors of home.

At Hien’s stall, 66-year-old Hai and his wife pull up on an old motorbike, their faces lighting up at the sight of the basket of o moi and the tray of cashew apples.

“It really is like seeing an old friend,” Hai said, inspecting each fruit.

“When we were kids, we would wait by the neighbor’s cashew tree hoping they’d toss the fruit after taking the nut.”

He buys half a kilo of cashew apples to eat with chili salt, his favorite snack from childhood in Hoc Mon, an area on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City.

“Every time she gets cashew fruit in stock, I tell her to call me,” he said, pointing at Hien.

Nearby, his wife peers silently into the basket of o moi.

“I won’t buy it,” she said regretfully.

“I don’t have the teeth for it anymore.

“But just seeing it… brings back everything.”

Back then, she recalls, there were no fruit stalls or sellers.

“The trees grew by the roadside,” she said.

“We’d just find a stick and knock them down to eat.”